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Design and manage help center portals

Use the Portals page to shape the public help center experience customers see first.

Done well, a portal feels less like a document dump and more like a product surface: clear entry points, predictable navigation, and fast paths to common answers.

When to create another portal​

Create a separate portal when one of these needs to change in a meaningful way:

  • Audience: customers, partners, internal teams, or resellers need different content.
  • Branding: a product line or brand needs its own name, domain, or visual identity.
  • Language strategy: one group needs different default locales or publishing cadence.
  • Content ownership: different teams manage different knowledge bases.

If the experience should feel unified for the same audience, keep it in one portal and use categories plus locales before creating a new surface.

A portal structure that works on SaaS products​

Most support teams get the best results with a simple structure:

  • Put high-intent topics on the homepage, such as billing, onboarding, integrations, and account settings.
  • Use categories for tasks, not internal team names.
  • Keep category names short enough that customers can understand them at a glance.
  • Make sure the portal title, header text, and custom domain match the product area customers think they are in.

Good examples:

  • Getting started
  • Billing and invoices
  • Account and security
  • Integrations
  • Troubleshooting

Avoid categories that only make sense internally, such as Tier 1, Ops, or Knowledge Base v2.

Set up a portal in OXVO​

  1. Open Help Center -> All portals.
  2. Create a portal with a clear name and slug.
  3. Add the default locale your team will publish in first.
  4. Configure the page title, header text, and homepage link.
  5. Add categories before writing articles in volume.
  6. Connect a custom domain once the structure is stable.

This order keeps the public URL, navigation, and SEO basics stable before you scale the content set.

Make the portal feel trustworthy​

Customers are more likely to self-serve when the portal looks current and intentional.

  • Use a recognizable logo and brand color.
  • Write homepage and header copy that explains what customers can do there.
  • Keep outdated categories out of the main navigation.
  • Review custom domain and page title settings so shared links look polished.

If a portal is temporary or experimental, keep it out of the main customer journey until the information architecture is settled.

Operational habits that keep portals healthy​

  • Review top-viewed categories every month.
  • Merge or rename categories that overlap.
  • Archive content paths that no longer match the product.
  • Keep locale coverage realistic; publish fewer high-quality locales instead of many half-maintained ones.
  • Assign one clear owner for each portal.

Before you publish broadly​

Run this quick checklist:

  • Can a new customer find the top five support topics from the homepage?
  • Do category names match the words customers use?
  • Are the default locale and custom domain correct?
  • Does every visible category have enough published content to feel complete?
  • Are old or duplicate portals hidden, archived, or removed?